Artificial blood puddle

ABSTRACT

A sheet-like structure for mimicking a pool of spilled blood or blood puddle. The structure is blood red in color and preferably made of a flexible urethane resin, thermoplastic elastomer, rubber, plastic or silicone material. The sheet-like structure will be made in the shape of a blood puddle created naturally after an injury or any spilling of blood, and is intended to be placed on a surface for filming or for a novelty use anywhere blood is shed or spilled. This device eliminates the clean up process involved when artificial liquid blood is used in film, television and theatrical productions, and for novelty uses.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The present invention generally relates to a special effects device foruse in motion pictures, television, theatrical productions, and fornovelty use, and more particularly to a flexible sheet-like structurethat mimics the shape of a pool of blood created on a surface.

In filming motion pictures, television series, and the like, the needfor simulating spilled blood arises in scenes where a character suffersa bleeding injury. In these situations, artificial liquid blood is usedat a suitable location, such as below the head of the performer where aninjury in the head is depicted. At present, when a scene is filmed usingartificial liquid blood, the surface on which it is poured, theperformer and the performer's costumes must be cleaned. Usually thiscleaning process becomes messy and time consuming. In addition, thereare novelty uses for artificial pooled blood for fun houses, parties,etc.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate theneed for artificial liquid blood when filming motion pictures,television productions, and the like. A further object of the presentinvention is to simplify the clean up process of artificial blood afterfilming a scene. Finally, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a sheet-like structure, which realistically mimics an actualblood puddle created in an injury. These and other objects will becomeapparent from the accompanying summary, description and drawings.

SUMMARY

The present invention is a sheet-like structure that mimics an actualpool of freshly spilled blood in numerous shapes and sizes. Thesheet-like structure eliminates the clean up process involved whenartificial liquid blood is used in the current art. In accordance withthis invention, the sheet-like structure will be made in the shape ofrealistic blood puddles created after an injury or any time blood isspilled. The structure is made of a flexible material and placed on anysurface to mimic an actual blood puddle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an illustration of one of the embodiments of the sheet-likestructure in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of one of the embodiments of the sheet-likestructure placed under the head of a performer in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a second embodiment of the sheet-likestructure in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURES—REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   10 . . . Sheet-like Structure-   11 . . . Performer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the artificialpooling blood puddle sheet-like structure is illustrated and generallyindicated as 10 in FIGS. 1 through 3. The sheet-like structure isdesigned to mimic an actual blood puddle created by any spilling ofblood. The solid sheet-like structure eliminates the need for artificialliquid blood, presently used to create blood puddles when filming, andin novelty use.

Referring to FIG. 1, one preferred embodiment of the sheet-likestructure 10 is illustrated as it is held prior to use. The structure 10is tinted to approximate the color of spilled blood, and is made of aflexible material, comprising urethane resin, a thermoplastic elastomer,latex, silicon or rubber in the random shape of an actual pool of blood.The structure 10 can be placed on any surface where a pool or puddle ofblood effect must be created.

The sheet-like structure 10 when placed on a surface and under the headof a performer 11 is illustrated in FIG. 2. The structure realisticallymimics the blood puddle that would be created by a blood spill 11. Afteruse, the structure 10 can be removed, cleaned and stored, and may beused repeatedly.

Referring to FIG. 3, a second embodiment of the sheet-like structure 10is illustrated as it is held in the hand of a user. The shape of thestructure 10 according to this embodiment is different from the previousembodiment in that the outline of the pool of blood is different, tosimulate a different injury. Similarly, many other shapes of thesheet-like structure are possible, since a blood puddle can take anyshape. Therefore, a user of the device may use several versions of theinvention for different scenes and situations, so that the same shapeblood puddle isn't repeated.

All features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanyingclaims, abstract, and drawings, may be replaced by alternative featuresserving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly statedotherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each featuredisclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent orsimilar features.

Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for”performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specificfunction, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause asspecified in 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6. In particular, the use of“step of” in the claims herein is not intended to invoke the provisionsof 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, various modifications and substitutions may be madethereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has beendescribed by way of illustration and not limitation.

1. A structure for mimicking a pool of spilled blood, said structurecomprising a sheet-like member in a generally planar configuration witha top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the edges of the top surfaceare random and generally lobed, and wherein the edges of the top surfaceare soft and arc downward to meet the edges of the bottom surface togive the structure the appearance of viscous fluid.
 2. The structure ofclaim 1, wherein the structure is tinted to a dark color to approximatethe color of oxidizing blood on a surface.
 3. The structure of claim 1,wherein the sheet-like member is made of urethane resin, thermoplasticelastomer, plastic, rubber, silicone, or any other flexible material. 4.The structure of claim 1, wherein the sheet-like member comprisesdifferent shapes and sizes to approximate different volumes of spilledblood.
 5. The structure/article of claim 1, wherein the sheet-likemember is made of rigid material such as plastic or the like.